Kosatka: Consideration of a Kosovo's application for EU membership will await Sweden

The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, Martin Kosatka, said today in Prague that consideration of Kosovo's application for EU membership will wait for Sweden as the EU chairman, RTV reports.

Kosatka also told European Western Balkans that there was no real debate about the opening of the negotiation cluster with Serbia during the Czech presidency, because the atmosphere was not suitable for that.

He added that he saw three main obstacles in the case of Serbia - the lack of progress in the area of the rule of law, the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina and the very low degree of alignment of Serbian foreign policy with the common foreign and security policy of the EU.

"Some time ago, this problem was almost secondary to the previous two. But with Russian aggression, it has become a matter of principle and now the European Union will really insist on harmonization with the CFSP," Kosatka said.

When asked whether the issue of foreign and security policy would be more important than rule of law reforms in the accession process, he pointed out that it would be one of the main issues.

"The fact is that the problem of harmonizing with the CFSP has grown dramatically in recent months, but without positive developments on the ground, the rule of law will definitely remain a major obstacle on Serbia's European path," the Czech diplomat said.

Speaking about the enlargement of the EU, Kosatka emphasized that there was a common feeling in the European Union that the countries of the Western Balkans must be given a chance, but that they must "do their homework".

"It is clear that the atmosphere has changed after the Russian aggression. The EU wants to show that it really cares about the region. It is not about hard work and good results of one presidency, but about the general will of the EU. This will is present," Kosatka said.

Although the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia, Ivica Dacic, noted that the Czech Presidency will not deal with Kosovo's request for EU membership, Kosatka claims that every Presidency is expected to do what is necessary.

"Given the date when Kosovo decided to submit the application (December 15), we did not have time to do more than to inform the COREPER ambassadors of the EU member states that Kosovo submitted the application. The next Swedish presidency will start consultations with the states members", Kostaka said.